Archaeology of Virginia’s Invisible Century, 1607-1699 with Nick Luccketti of the James River Institute for Archaeology.

Free to UJC Members | Non-Members $5

Join Nick Luccketti, Principal Investigator and Archaeologist of the James River Institute for Archaeology, Inc., as he takes you on a virtual quest to unearth the Commonwealth’s hidden historical treasures!

With only a handful of above ground structures, and the loss of many Tidewater county records during the Civil War, one could argue that the history of Virginia’s first century is largely invisible. However, since the 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered a wealth of information on the architecture, material culture, and landscape of a variety of sites including fortifications, farmsteads, plantations, slave quarters, and manufacturing sites, mostly along the James River valley.

Mr. Luccketti will begin with a look at John Smith’s “New Forte” built in 1609, followed by other sites that highlight the evolution of settlement in the 17th-century, concluding with John Custis II’s sophisticated Arlington Plantation on the Eastern Shore, which dates from around 1674.